Hello, I have been writing/drawing manga ideas for a long time. But sadly I don't know where to start. If there is anyone here that could help I have a few questions:

Can anyone tell me where there are classes (Not online) that I could find.
What types of pens/pencils do you use.
How do set up a good story board.
Are there any good reference books for scenery/poses.
And any tips that you can give me.

I know that this isn't the most ideal site to post this topic but I would really appreciate any and every piece of advise that I will receive. Thank you so very much.

Pick up the book Massive Manga by Yishan Li. This'll cover most of what you need.

For poses, I would recommend the programs daz studio and/or poser #. You can pose the models how you like. Or the old fashioned way, google the subject your interested in and see a billion related images. Find the one that best suits your needs. Or, the old old fashioned way, go to an art store. Pick up a small pose-able wooden mannequin.

If you google storyboards, you can get ideas on what they look like. Sometimes you find storyboards going from blank, to simple sketches, rough sketches, and detailed sketches. Then google comic book scripts. If you can get the storyboards and scripts to match, you'll get an idea on how it works.

And of course, read comics/manga. But, try to break it down. Look beyond the story, and piece together how it's made.

I'm pretty new to this website so still figuring out where certain topics are supposed to go, but I think you can go under the Creative forum and show your artwork. It'd be great to see it.

I don't have much advice for you from the professional standpoint but if you're truly dedicated you might look up some art schools that have courses in manga and storyboarding in a classroom setting. A lot of universities may have these in their fine arts departments also.

And again, I have no idea what is really professionally recommended for manga because I don't have those skills, but I like to get my general doodling stuff from dickblick.com. I notice they sell a lot of sets specifically labeled for manga or comics in general so you don't have to guess on fleshtones and such. I like Sakura Micron pens, Caran d'Ache pencils (regular and color), Copic markers, and pretty much a lot of other people like them too whether they're doing "cartooning" or other illustration work. For reference books for scenery, poses, and different types of manga characters/costumes/etc akadot.com has a ton, mostly in Japanese text but also a fair amount in English. They also have a generous selection of manga supplies including screentone and pens and markers, but for the latter dickblick seems to have a much larger selection. I think a lot of the reference books may have advice on the particular implements that specific artists may recommend.

Thank you, both of you have given me a lot of sound advice. I really appreciate all of it! Just hearing advice and these words of encouragement really help me feel like I can continue to work at this. I'll start to post some sketches/storyboards as soon as i upload them via computer. Yet again thank you so much and I will take this all to heart.

just sharing...
when I was still midschooler... i read many manga (bought from store) and start drawing with simple matrix border line on some A4 paper size till up to hundred sheet (100 up, below 300.)forgot the exact number ... but some of them... some of my work were burned by mom and the other just lost nowhere... need to care about our work too dude !....

for pencil its back to our taste... i'd like a track pen for a detail work, and the big pen for inking or just scan your work and edit it with photoshop or GIMP...